Toothbrush



April 1968 KENJI MATSUNAGA 3,378,870

TOOTHBRUSH Filed March 22, 1967 WWWWWIW F IG. 2.

.A N w mmm m 0 w M O United States Patent 3,378,870 TOOTHBRUSH Kenji Matsunaga, 2 l-chome, Honmachi, Yao, Osaka-tn, Japan Filed Mar. 22, 1967, Ser. No. 625,247 3 Claims. (Cl. -10434) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toothbrush having bristles or hair to which tooth cleaning material in dried form is applied, which material is water soluble.

The present invention relates to a new type of tooth brush, in general, and more particularly to a toothbrush having a special water soluble dental material applied to the brush hairs which are mounted on the hair support of the toothbrush, so that the toothbrush may be used daily by merely moistening the brush hairs without using any dental cream or powder as used for conventional toothbrushes.

Heretofore brushing and cleaning the teeth every morning has been usually accomplished with a toothbrush and a separate supply of dental cream or powder, with attendant disadvantages and inconveniences of applying the cream or powder to the brush.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a toothbrush with a cleansing substance thereon which eliminates the dental cream or powder required by the prior art to be separately carried with the brush.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a toothbrush comprising a handle, a plurality of brush hairs mounted at one end of the handle, a cleaning agent adhering to the plurality of brush hairs in the dry state, the cleaning agent being water soluble, and gradually dissolving upon each application of water for a plurality of applications.

With these and other objects in View which will become apparent from the following detailed description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, the present invention will be more clearly understood, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a toothbrush in accordance with the present invention, showing one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevation of a single brushing hair of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-section of the essential part of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, a toothbrush having a handle 3 and having brush hairs 1, is illustrated. On any part of the tips of the hairs 1 there is applied a covering film 2 of tooth powder. The tooth powder mixed with medicines is applied to the embedded hairs 1 to stick on them and the toothbrush is then put into a drying machine (not shown) for low temperature drying.

Referring new again to the drawing, and more particularly to FIGS. 3 and 4, for another embodiment vinyl alcohol mixed with foaming, sterilizing, and sweetening materials, as well as a suitable spicery, is applied to the hairs 7 so as to soak into them, and so that the mucous material 9 fills up and remains in the planting holes 6 of the support 5 of the planted hairs 7 and between the respective planted hairs 7, so that the hairs 7 may be fixed thereto by the tooth brushing mucous material 9.

The two end tips of the innermost U-shaped hairs are bent toward each other, and the two end tips of the outermost U-shaped hairs are bent away from each other.

Since water soluble tooth brushing drugs are applied to the planted hairs and dried to stick thereto, the drugs will instantly dissolve as soon as they are dipped into water, so that a persons teeth can be brushed and cleaned by the drugs, while the refuse of food remaining in the mouth may easily be washed by water and removed therefrom.

In addition, the toothbrush designed according to the present invention has the following other advantages:

Because of the toothbrushing drugs applied to the mounted hairs which are dried so as to stick thereto as mentioned above, there is no apprehension that the drugs will come oil the mounted hairs, even if the toothbrush is roughly handled so as to make the adjoining hairs rub one another. Besides, since the drugs are Water soluble, they gradually dissolve, so that the hairs, which are slightly hard initially, will become softer little by little, as the dissolved volume of the drugs increases and the cleaning action of the brush is performed with excellence.

While I have disclosed several embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are given by example only, and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. A toothbrush comprising a handle, a plurality of brush hairs mounted at one end of said handle, a cleaning agent adhering to said plurality of brush hairs in the dry state, said cleaning agent being water soluble and gradually dissolving upon each application of water for a plurality of applications, wherein each plurality of brush hairs comprise arrays of substantially U-shaped hairs each positioned outside another in the same plane,

said handle having holes in which said hairs are mounted,

a stopper holding said hairs in said holes, and

said cleaning agent filling said holes above said stopper and filling the entire area between said U-shaped hairs adhering to and between adjacent of said hairs and holding said arrays of substantially U-shaped hairs initially in position.

2. The toothbrush, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the two end tips of said innermost of said arrays of substantially U-shaped hairs are inwardly bent toward each other, and

the two end tips of said outermost of said arrays of substantially U-shaped hairs are outwardly bent away from each other.

3. The toothbrush, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cleaning agent comprises a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol, foaming, sterilizing and sweetening materials.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,915,767 12/1959 Vaughan 15-167.l 3,302,230 2/1967 Poppelrnan 15-l04.94 XR 3,342,687 9/1967 Gould 167-93 FOREIGN PATENTS 549,168 11/1957 Canada. 641,913 7/1962 Italy.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

P. FELDMAN, Examiner. 

